Work

Role of Sleep Duration and Timing on Paediatric BMI Across Childhood and Adolescence: Do Both Matter?

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Adequate sleep duration is a prevention factor for paediatric obesity, but the role of timing is still unclear. OBJECTIVES: To investigate associations of sleep duration and timing with BMI in a large paediatric database. METHODS: Medical chart and survey data were collected from 29 409 children aged 2-18 years who attended well-child visits between Jan 2019 and Dec 2023 (repeated-measures cross-sectional design). Logistic and linear mixed effects regression models accounting for repeated measures estimated odds of overweight/obesity and continuous BMI-for-age CDC-based percentiles for each additional/later hour of sleep duration, midpoint (median of bedtime and wake time), and bedtime, adjusted for potential confounders and stratified by age groups. RESULTS: Among young children (2-5 years), shorter sleep duration but not sleep timing was related to higher odds of overweight/obesity (21% higher odds with 95% CI: 3% to 36%). In mid-childhood (6-12 years), shorter sleep duration and later midpoint were associated with higher odds of overweight/obesity (18%, 95% CI = 9%, 26%; 32%, 95% CI = 17%, 49%). Among adolescents (13-18 years), each hour of later sleep midpoint equated to 12% higher odds of living with overweight/obesity (95% CI: 1% to 23%). Linear models were similar. CONCLUSIONS: Shorter sleep duration at younger ages and later sleep timing in adolescence were associated with higher BMI.

Source: Pediatric Obesity

DOI: 10.1111/ijpo.70064

Authors: Yundan Zhang, Joyce M. Lee, Karen E. Peterson, Jonathan A. Mitchell, Erica C. Jansen